How This 18-Year-Old Became an Environmental Crusader After Her Family Lost Everything in a Typhoon

Here’s Marinel’s story.

Eighteen-year-old Marinel Ubaldo from the Philippines is one of five young activists who attended COP21, the UN climate change conference in Paris, last week. She is part of a youth delegation set up by the child rights organization Plan International. Marinel lost her house and all of her belongings when Typhoon Haiyan struck her community two years ago. Now, she is a keen campaigner on the issue of climate change and has been raising awareness across her community and around the world.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Our house was completely washed away by the typhoon, along with most of the other houses nearby.

I come from a small coastal community in the Philippines and we often have storms, but I never imagined a typhoon could be so powerful.

There were roofs of houses flying all around. I can still hear the children weeping. After the typhoon, we had to sleep out in the rain, with no access to clean water and fresh food. Phones weren’t working anymore and we were isolated for days. Our relatives and friends thought we were dead.

This all happened a little more than two years ago, on November 8, 2013, when I was 16. Our lives were devastated by Typhoon Haiyan — the strongest storm ever to make landfall. Some of our relatives and a friend of mine were killed.

After the typhoon, I was terrified of the wind and the rain. The weather made me nervous because it always seemed like another storm was coming. I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

The roof had been blown off my school and the computers were ruined. The only things I managed to save were a notebook, pen, and English book. All the rest — including my medals and ribbons — was destroyed.

It was a struggle to get back to normality but I made a promise to myself to go back to school and finish my studies. The most important thing for me was my education. I saw a lot of students who didn’t go back to school. They ended up going out to the sea with their fathers to help them fish. It makes me sad because their futures will be so uncertain.

Two years after the typhoon, life has returned to normal. I’m now studying social work at a university in Tacloban. It’s not been an easy journey, but I’ve never taken for granted how lucky I am.

After seeing the destruction, I wanted to find out more about how we can protect ourselves in the future. I already had some knowledge because I’d been involved in activities in my community organized by Plan International.

But I was eager to learn more, so I got involved in local youth activities. I’ve been part of educating others on the radio and out in the village, talking to people about how climate change is affecting people’s lives, and how we can adapt. We have to get creative in how we raise awareness. It’s hard to get people’s attention, so we use street theatre, acting, singing, and dancing to get our messages across. We don’t want to have to go through another typhoon unprepared.

Climate change isn’t a fantasy — it’s a reality and it’s affecting all of us, now.

My father is a fisherman and if climate change continues, it will mean he has to fish farther and farther out at sea because there aren’t as many fish. This makes it more dangerous for him. If he can’t get enough food to make a living or to feed us, then it means I might need to drop out of school to work and help support the family.

Although I had some knowledge of what climate change can do, it wasn’t until Typhoon Haiyan came that I really understood the devastating impact stronger and more frequent typhoons have as a result of the warming ocean surface.

It’s about time governments and the adults in charge listen to young people like me. We are the current and next generation and it’s our futures that are in question now.

That’s why I was so proud to be at COP21 as part of the youth delegation. It was an amazing experience to see so many other young people who are interested in climate change. Living in the Philippines, I feel like we experience the brunt of it, so it’s awesome for me to come here and see that there are youth from all over the world who are also doing something to address the issue.

It’s really important for us as young people to raise our voices so adults know how we are affected and what we are doing about it. I’m grateful to be able to have my say and share with the world our experiences of life in the Philippines.

I want to learn how other children and youth in different countries address the issue of climate change. I want to broaden my horizon and to hear their stories and share mine.

My message to world leaders is simple: climate change is already happening and it's everyone’s problem. Just because you’re not aware that it’s happening or you don’t feel it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. The future of children and young people is at stake and it depends on the actions of all of us, together.

Young people have a responsibility, too. We are not just victims and spectators. We must get involved and have a say in decisions that affect our lives.

I’m here to raise my voice. When this is all over, I’ll be able to look back and say, “I really did something important today.”